President Joe Biden’s Department of Justice (DOJ) is vowing to sue Texas if state officials begin carrying out a new set of laws, signed by Gov. Greg Abbott (R), that allows them to have illegal aliens arrested and deported — independent of federal officials.
Last week, Abbott signed three pieces of legislation into law, including giving state law enforcement the power to arrest illegal aliens for the crime of illegally crossing the United States-Mexico border and local judges the authority to have illegal aliens deported.
The landmark laws are significant because they put Texas on the map as the first state in the nation where residing illegally in the United States is a state crime, not just a federal crime.
In response, Biden’s DOJ is threatening to sue Texas unless Abbott promises by January 3, 2024, not to enforce the new laws, according to a letter from Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Brian Boynton reviewed by the Houston Chronicle:
The new legislation, which Abbott signed into law earlier this month, is unconstitutional and will disrupt the federal government’s immigration enforcement operations, Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Brian M. Boynton wrote in a letter to the governor obtained by Hearst Newspapers.
[Emphasis added]…
The DOJ letter says the U.S. Constitution tasks the federal government with regulating immigration and controlling the international borders. The law “therefore intrudes into a field that is occupied by the federal government and is preempted,” the letter says. [Emphasis added]
The Justice Department points to a landmark Supreme Court ruling from 2012 that held that only the federal government has the power to enforce immigration laws. Abbott has cast the law as an opening for the high court to reconsider that ruling. [Emphasis added]
Abbott wrote on Twitter, in response to reports of the DOJ’s threat, that he has “never seen such hostility to the rule of law in America” as with the Biden administration.
“The Biden [administration] not only refuses to enforce current U.S. immigration laws, they now want to stop Texas from enforcing laws against illegal immigration,” Abbott wrote. “I’ve never seen such hostility to the rule of law in America. Biden is destroying America. Texas is trying to save it.”
A report by Breitbart News on Friday details how Biden is yet again set to break another record on illegal immigration with only days left in the year.
An unofficial Department of Homeland Security (DHS) report indicates that in the first 28 days of December, about 232,000 illegal aliens were apprehended along the border — with most likely crossing into Texas from Mexico. The previous record for December was set last year when more than 224,000 illegal aliens were apprehended.
John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Email him at
